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WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A ROCKET BOOSTER FAILS?

The astronauts of the Soyuz MS-10 are said to have switched into 'ballistic descent mode' once they were notified of the second stage booster fault.

This means the core automatically separated from the faulty booster and turned back to Earth.

The rocket came in at a much sharper angle than normal, allowing the craft to head as quickly as possible to the ground.

It is believed the rocket was travelling at more than 8,000 miles per hour (12,800kph) during its descent.

The astronauts would have experienced G-force pressure as high as 7Gs.

Rockets use boosters to provide the thrust they need to launch from Earth and breech the atmosphere.

They set the trajectory for the flight, and if they aren't running at full capacity could send the rocket in completely the wrong direction.

The Soyuz MS-10 rocket had four first-stage boosters strapped to its central core, which housed the second stage booster.

A booster can fail for any number of reasons, including incorrect fuelling, mechanical faults, computer glitches and more.

In the event of a booster failure, mission control will normally cancel the flight to avoid endangering the astronauts on board.

The rocket is put into an emergency landing procedure in which the main module - holding all cargo and any astronauts on board - separates from the rocket early. 

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